The Rolling Stones Details

In the Spring of 1962, two childhood friends from Dartford, Kent, joined forces with a London bar band that was calling itself Blues Incorporated. Sharing a love of American blues musicians like Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf, as well as the more radio-friendly variations of the blues that formed the backbone of songs by artists like Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley, the newly formed combo soon took up residence at Richmond’s Crawdaddy Club where they became an immediate draw. By 1964, Decca Records released their first album—in part to capitalize on the worldwide popularity of the Beatles, a band that the label had foolishly passed on and still regretted as an epic mistake. The two childhood chums were Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, and the band they came to join—The Rolling Stones—is still going strong with new music and performances around the world.

The 2017 Stones lineup—Jagger, Richards, Charlie Watts and Ronnie Wood—have been performing together since 1994. For the past decade there have been rumors that the band was finally ready to retire. While they have never made their intentions clear on how long they plan to carry on, and have even gone long stretches without much activity together as a group, the recent past has been unusually productive as far as new performances and material. The 2017 tour started in Europe as the “No Filter” tour. The past year has also included the Stones’ first-ever concert in Cuba and a stripped-down album of blues covers—Blue & Lonesome—that takes the band right back to its musical roots. The critically-acclaimed and fan-pleasing album marks the Stones’ first full-length release since A Bigger Bang in 2005. Another studio album is rumored to be in the works, which is not surprising given the band’s continued popularity and willingness to create new music together. Pretty incredible considering these living legends have been performing for 55 years and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame all the way back in 1989. If you only know the Stones for their classic 1960s hits like “Satisfaction,” “Paint it Black” and “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”—or later chart busters like “Wild Horses,” “Start Me Up” and “Harlem Shuffle”—it’s time to revisit and appreciate the work of a timeless band before it’s too late.

Will Desert Trip return for a 2018 edition? Will something even more magical be put in its place? The only thing we know for sure is that money talks, and Goldenvoice would be crazy to not try to repl…